On Monday I wrote about how much better the Metro bus is when compared to the metro rail in D.C. but today I’m taking a look at the other side of things. Just because the bus might be better than the rail, that is by no way saying the bus is the best option. Every transportation option has its flaws and so today I am covering a few of the negative aspects of taking the DC Metro bus. This rant brought to you by my evening commute yesterday…

You know is the worst? Missing a bus by two minutes only to then wait 35 minutes for the next bus when really, the schedule says the bus is supposed to come every 15 minutes. How is this even acceptable? What is the point of having arrival times posted to a website or app. if the buses very rarely adhere to them? And why don’t they? They have a schedule so why can’t they stick to it?

The metro rail stations on the other hand, list when the trains are arriving and the trains actually do come as listed like 97% of the time. If they don’t come at the time listed, the screen goes blank or the train is listed as “no passenger.” While this is not what you want to happen but some communication is always better than none.

Also, how come there are so many bus drivers who don’t know the route they are driving? First of all, why are drivers being employed if they don’t know where they’re going? What’s the point? Is there no training? And second of all, how difficult would be to give them all a GPS? Or you know, a map.

When you compare this to the metro rail, those drivers operate trains. They have a track that the rail cars can only run on. You can’t mess that up. Especially since at one point, the Metro rail had automated drivers. We are not quite at the point of self-driving Metro buses.

The D.C. Metro buses frankly just need to get their act together. Come on now, people.